J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours

ISBN 978-1-84976-386-8
J.M.W. Turner > 1787-1801 Student and master > North of England 1797-1801 > Tweed and Lakes Sketchbook > Artwork

Joseph Mallord William Turner Ullswater 1797

Image 1 of 2
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ullswater’ 1797
Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851
Folio 51 Recto:
Ullswater 1797
D01039
Turner Bequest XXXV 37
Pencil on white wove paper, 274 x 370 mm
Inscribed by Turner in pencil ‘Hellvylin’ [sic] bottom centre, and ‘Ulswater’ [sic] bottom right
Blind-stamped with Turner Bequest monogram towards bottom right
Stamped in black ‘XXXV 37’ bottom left, descending vertically
Drawn with the page turned horizontally, this is the first of a sequence of seven consecutive views of Ullswater in this book, taken along the western shore of the lake, to which Turner scholar David Hill adds the study on folio 27 recto (D01080; Turner Bequest XXXV 78), identified by him as showing Aira Force.
The view is taken looking south from the shore near Stybarrow Crag, towards the head of the lake, with Patterdale beyond. The hill in the distance has been identified by mountaineer and art historian Peter Bicknell1 as John Bell’s Banner; Hill says it is Hartsop Dodd, which is further to the west. Turner’s inscription suggests that he mistook this hill for Helvellyn, which is not visible from his vantage point here.
1
Oral communication.
Verso:
Blank; stamped in brown ink with Turner Bequest monogram; inscribed by A.J. Finberg in pencil ‘141.37’.

Andrew Wilton
August 2010

How to cite

Andrew Wilton, ‘Ullswater 1797 by Joseph Mallord William Turner’, catalogue entry, August 2010, in David Blayney Brown (ed.), J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours, Tate Research Publication, November 2014, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-ullswater-r1150215, accessed 23 April 2024.